DNFing in Lanzarote... :-(

Thursday, 5th December, 2013 – 6.5km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

This was just a relaxed run to keep the legs ticking over. Nothing to report.

Friday, 6th December, 2013 – Rest Day

Arrived into Lanzarote around 6pm and spent the evening with family who were already here so kept this as a rest day. Still feeling good for Sunday.

Saturday, 7th December, 2013 – 6.0km Recovery Run (5:23/km)

Went out for a run along the seafront this afternoon. It was pretty breezy out which both helped to cool but also to slow me down a little. Not sure how this will work tomorrow...

Sunday, 8th December, 2013 – 19.3km Lanzarote marathon - DNF

Well that wasn't the way it as supposed to happen! After going for a meal last night where I had Chicken Cordon Bleu I woke this morning with dodgy stomach issues. 2 visits to the toilet pointed towards an eventful race in store! I had to get a taxi from my apt to the race HQ and then get a free bus from there to the start. While waiting around at the start area I had to use the facilities once more and things weren't much improved.

I decided I'd stick to my plan regardless so off we went at 9am. The first 5km were uphill and I had accounted for this with my pacing strategy. By the end of this section I was pretty much on track so it was now meant to flatten out for the next 7km. This never really happened though as it was quite undulating so hard to zone in on a consistent pace. By the 8km marker I was beginning to realise that I simply was not in racing form today so I paused at this water station to take a salt tablet, knowing I'd be especially prone to electrolyte/hydration issues with my stomach the way it was. 

The next 5km was an out and back section to the same water station and this was getting to be more and more difficult. My HR was not especially high but the effort felt much worse than MP effort. I stopped at the same station to take more water and let the body relax. By now all thoughts of a fast marathon were out the window and I was more concentrating on a strategy to simply finish the run. Worse case scenario I thought was I 'd do the HM course and at least finish one of the races.

Immediately after the 13km station we turned right towards Costa Teguise and this signalled the start of a 5km downhill section to the town. Things should be easier here and I felt it was a good stage to ease back and recover somewhat. The truth was far different. About 1km later I had to pull in to the side of the road thinking I was going to throw up but after 10 seconds I knew it wasn't gonna happen so I rejoined the race. This was feeling physically very sore now as well as my stomach issues, so it was no surprise to me that when I hot the 15km marker and there was a tiny uphill section which forced me to walk that my race was over. If I was feeling this bad since almost the start and it was only getting worse then there really was no point in continuing. Not that it was a mental choice - My body was simply saying no!

After making that decision I still had to walk the 4.5km back to race HQ and even this was a real struggle. I couldn't even force myself into a slow jog on the remaining downhills. I was very relieved to be back at HQ when I eventually arrived. The heat had added it's tuppence worth to factors by now so all it took was a small sip of coke to set me off. I had to go off and find a discreet spot to heave my guts up! In the mix I could see the remains of last night's dinner which I cursed as the offending party.

Oh well, nothing to be done now. That evening I went home and slept for 16hrs solid. Definitely not right! To be honest, with the hilly/undulating nature of the first 20km and the ever-present wind on the course I doubt I'd have managed to get the time I was hoping for anyways so not quite as disappointing as Rotterdam DNF earlier in the year but a pain in the guts regardless!

Week 48 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 46.6 km

DTY: 3,692.2 km

The following week I was recovering from the food poisoning and effort before just relaxing and enjoying my hols until I returned to Ireland. Decided to take the rest of the week off too and start afresh on the following Monday.

Week 49 Summary:

RTW: 0 from 7 days

DTW: 0.0 km

DTY: 3,692.2 km

Marathon-3 days

Monday, 2nd December, 2013 – Rest Day

I’d been sleeping really poorly both in terms of quantity & quality the past few nights so I was very tired this evening and decided if you can't take an evening off in taper a week before the big day then when can you?!

Tuesday, 3rd December, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run with 2km @ MP (5:10/km)

I found it difficult to motivate myself for this run as it was ‘only’ a recovery paced run but decided to throw in a couple of MP kms. This helped focus the mind and the ran passed by quickly enough in the end. The two MP kms were 4:40/km @ 140bpm and 4:31/km @149bpm so happy enough.

Wednesday, 4th December, 2013 – 7.4km Easy Run (4:41/km)

This evening I took my lead from JD’s plan for final week before a marathon. He suggests a 40-60min run at E pace. So, I started off at my E effort and hit 4:55 for the first km. I got a little indisciplined then though and sped up subconsciously to 4:50, 4:40 & 4:32 over the following kms until I realised I was going too fast. I hadn’t been looking at the watch but it’s comforting to know that I was getting faster without really noticing it a huge amount. Eased back for the next couple of kms before unintentionally going too fast over the last full km again. The final half km I threw in a few strides and this resulted in 4:04/km pace. I really hope I don't end up regretting this on Sunday but it felt like I was in great shape last night anyways!

Week 48 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days

DTW: 14.8 km

DTY: 3,660.4 km

1 week left...

Friday, 29th November, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:49/km)

Went out for this run quite late in the evening as I had been busy doing a few small jobs. Nice and relaxed recovery run after last nights big effort.

Saturday, 30th November, 2013 – Rest Day

A late night last night meant I wasn’t really in the mood for a run today and with it being taper a day off was due anyways.

Sunday, 1st December, 2013 – 20.0km Medium Long Run (5:14/km)

I met up with Anto again for this one. We did a big loop of Ballymun Rd., Griffith Avenue, Coast Rd, Raheny, Coolock and home. A nice run where we pushed it a little fast to 5:00/km for the first 10 kms and then eased back for the remainder of our 20km. I was surprisingly a little stiff/tired after this run.

Week 47 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 64.6 km

DTY: 3,645.6 km

So, a good seven days of running in my penultimate week. Mostly this week it will be recovery paced run with a couple of MP kms thrown in.

10 days out LT test.

Monday, 25th November, 2013 - 7.4km Easy Run (5:03/km)

This was initially very relaxed and when I saw it hit 5:5x by the end of the first km it jumped me into action and up the effort. Second km was around 5:13/km and felt grand so I maintained it around the 5:00/km Easy pace for the rest of the run and ended up with about 4 sets of strides. I’m going to add this aspect into all easy and recovery runs in future to see if it helps with my running economy/form.

Tuesday, 26th November, 2013 – 11.9km Easy Run (5:16/km)

Met up with Anto and his mate Tom after work for this run. They were looking for an hour long run so that tied in with my 11.9km loop perfectly. Fairly handy run that went by pretty quickly due to the company. Anto seemed to speed things up towards the end but it was still grand.

All done and dusted in plenty of time to have dinner before settling down to watch the Gunners easily beat Marseille. Nice!

Wednesday, 27th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

I was seriously tempted to head to Raheny and do the inaugural race in their Winter Series – a 3 mile race of 3 x 1mile laps – but had originally planned a Tempo run on Thurs evening. So, rather than put the tempo run in jeopardy I decided to stay local and do a recovery run instead. Threw in about 7 strides at the end but kept them easy enough that I would still be fresh for tomorrow.

I used my blue Kayanos for this run and could feel little niggles throughout the gentle run so when I got home I checked the soles and sure enough they were well worn. So, straight to the ‘I may need them sometime, but not now’ pile with them. I am now left to my orange pair (with probably just 200km left on them) and a pair I got off Philip which have plenty of running left yet. Probably soon time to start looking again for a new pair when the sales start.

Thursday, 28th November, 2013 – 10.5km with 9.2km @ LT (4:20/km)
I was advised by Stephen yesterday to ignore the 3 mile race in Raheny in order to focus on this LT test. The objective was to hit 4:20/km for 40 mins. This would suggest that I was back in shape for a decent attempt next weekend. The important factor to monitor was the average HR to see if it went stratospheric like last Saturday. I was pretty confident that wouldn’t happen but I was still eager to see what the numbers were like.

I drove to the Coast Road so as to do the session along the bike/pedestrian lane which is perfect for this sort of run – dead flat, good surface, decent lighting and not too busy. I started with a 1km warm-up and before I knew it I was off doing the faster stuff. The first few kms were grand with my HR taking a little time to hit the mid 150’s which was the expected range. After 3.6km I reached the end of the path and had to turn around. I was a little faster than required to this point and the turnaround gave me a 4:13/km split which in part was due to the GPS getting confused as it always does when doing a 180 degree turn. There was now a decent breeze in my face but thankfully it wasn’t too strong. If anything it was useful to keep me at a nice cool temperature as it was an unseasonably mild evening.

Greyed section is the LT segment.

The next couple of kms were dropping closer to the late 4:2x’s, so I reckon the breeze was costing me about 5 seconds per km. Soon I was back in a bit of shelter and the pace upped again. Around this time I found myself getting lazy mentally so had to change it up a gear for the last 15mins. The final couple of kms were back again to the earlier splits and when it came to stopping the watch I was back on the goal pace of 4:20/km.

It was only when I got home that I checked the HR properly and I was very happy to see it average out at 154bpm with a max of 161bpm which was only hit for a very short period of time.

So, according to Jack Daniels I was right in at the correct pace with a HR on the very low end of the range…test passed with flying colours!

Week 47 Summary (so far):

RTW: 4 from 4 days

DTW: 37.2 km

DTY: 3,618.2 km

Clontarf Half Marathon - Winter edition!

Saturday, 23rd November, 2013 - Clontarf Half Marathon.

Today was to be my last long run before Lanzarote in two weeks time so I combined the Clontarf HM with some miles before and afterwards to meet this goal.

Warm-up:

I arrived to Clontarf around 9am and jogged to the reg tent where I picked up my number before returning to the car to pin on the number and properly prepare for my warm-up. From there I ran at an easy pace along the start of the course before turning back near the wooden bridge. By the time I had returned to the start I had completed 6km and there was 20mins to race start.

Race:

I met Jamie (pacing partner) and several other familiar faces as we sorted out the balloons. In no time we were in position awaiting the first wave to set sail. A gap of 90 seconds was allowed for the start of the second wave of which we were at the front. A large gang ran with us for the first 5km including Peter who was in Chicago with us. There was plenty of chat for the first few km but that slowly died off after the first beach segment when we had to put the head down and work as we ran into the wind rolling down from Raheny. Thankfully as we turned for Sutton it eased off again and the next few km were more comfortable running.

Jamie on the far left and myself in the black top.

By this stage the group had thinned out somewhat but there was still about 20 runners or so with us. The race director had laid on a 10km pacing mat which was a novel idea (designed so that if there was a particularly strong wind you could at least get a good 10km time - if it was a South Westerly!). I had been running at steady 4:40/km pace but the sand sapped a little time from that so I was keen to check if I was on for my 46:40 split. However, we went through in 47:08 instead and this showed us to be running at 4:43/km which was quite close to the bone. I therefore decided to push it a little bit more to gain a factor of safety as we would likely lose more time through the sand on the return.

We turned for home 600m later and were up by 15 seconds so it was now where we wanted to be. After the turn though a gap of about 50m appeared between myself and Jamie with most of the crew sticking with Jamie. I was a bit apprehensive about the time so I maintained my pace til the beach where as expected things slowed down a bit again. This time on the beach the wind was blowing straight into our faces and it was a bit off putting being so cold if not particularly strong. By half way along the beach Jamie and the gang had caught up again and around here I started flagging a little. 

As we turned right at the end of the beach we had about 200m of rough sand to cross and combined with the wind this was a tough section. Much of my reserve strength was sapped along here and when we got back onto the road again, with just 3.5km to go, I was having to tuck in behind Jamie for a bit of drafting. Unfortunately around this spot Jamie mentioned that he was getting a little worried about the pace dropping slightly and began to kick on. I was now in the awkward position of waning and yet most of the pacees stayed with me! I was seriously considering giving Jamie a shout to drop back the 5-10m again and bring the group with him. Bad memories of pacing the same time in the Phoenix Park in September came flooding back! I couldn't fail at this a second time!

As we got back onto the main seafront promenade the pacees filtered into the space between myself and Jamie and we were now directing matters as an aggressive 1:40 (Jamie) and a conservative 1:40 (me). This actually worked well and with everyone in between on target for the goal time. As we covered the final couple of kms we struck upon a few that were struggling mentally and when they saw us they managed to up their game by joining us all the way to the finish. The last km was pretty tough for me and by the time I crossed the line there was a decent gap to the next runner so I feel we brought everyone in under their time, so job done! 

After the line I had to take a few moments to get myself together again. This had been a tough run but I factored in a few things afterwards, specifically:

• 1:40 pacing off a 1:32:41 PB is too tight!
• The Stook 10 miler was still in my legs.
• The wind (and baloon resistance) sapped a little into my factor of safety.
• The 6km warm-up was denying the pacing job the respect it deserved.
• I didn't eat enough of a breakfast for the job in hand (one buttered scone and a cup of tea).

After another close call today I think I'll give the pacing gigs a miss for the next while until they are not forming part of a training cycle and I really am doing them at an easy pace and for the craic.

Recovery run:

Afterwards I enjoyed a bit of chat with Olwyn, Joe (x2), Jamie, Niall and Peter. Before too long I was getting cold(er) and we decided to head down to Howth to support the Filipino fundraising EOI marathon. The guys had a great spread laid on outside the OCI offices and with a great turnout they managed to raise approximately €1,700 which will all go towards the Red Cross relief effort. Nice when people come together like this.

Unfortunately though my business was not finished for the day. I still had to tack on a few miles to get the distance up. So I hopped in my car, returned home, changed my clothes and did some stretchng before heading out for a local 5km run. I still hadn't eaten more than a morsel of food so halfway through the 5km I was a broken man! I had run out of energy and was working on fumes. Eventually I made it home after 6km bringing the distance for the day to over 33km so not bad at all when 21km was at marathon pace. When I look at the HM data though it is clear that it was continuously rising over the final few kms and going by my new Daniels training regime it would suggest I was running at 10km effort for the last 20mins or more. I think this was where a lack of fuel was to blame and therefore not surprising I struggled so much on the 6km loop later.

Anyways, that's a good days work in the bank now so just try and keep ticking over for the next couple of weeks before my deserved xmas break!

Sunday, 24th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:48/km)

Got out this evening for a gentle recovery run. Slow pace but probably about right considering yesterday. Felt pretty decent all things considered. Nice evening out there again.

Week 46 Summary:

RTW: 4 from 6 days

DTW: 60.0 km

DTY: 3,581.0 km

Gigs and easy running

Monday, 18th November, 2013 - Rest Day

My legs were suffering from a dose of DOMS after the flying mile in Stook so I took this evening off as I was also still tired from a Queens of the Stone Age gig in the O2 last night.

Tuesday, 19th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

In what is another hectic week I managed to throw in a short recovery run before once again heading off to another gig – this time it was Pixies in the Olympia. Excellent gig and the run wasn’t too bad either!

Wednesday, 20th November, 2013 - Rest Day

Weather was horrendously cold and windy tonight and even though I was otherwise busy this evening I probably could have squeezed in a quick 8km but the spirit was weak and decided against it. Feeling pretty conscious of all these rest days appearing unintentionally in my schedule and with only 2.5 weeks to Lanzarote it looks like my LSR this weekend will be the last improvement run before the big day. Will it be enough to give sub 3:20 a shot? Hmmm, I’ll have to wait and find out!

Thursday, 21st November, 2013 - 11.9km Easy/MP Run (4:49/km)

Very cold again tonight so rather than running cold for the duration I decided to run the first couple of kms at a fast pace to get the blood moving. After 3km @ 4:40/km I decided I needed to ease back with a pacing gig on Saturday so the rest of the run was more Easy pace than MP. Felt really refreshed for the first few kms which probably explains why I was going faster than intended.

Friday, 22nd November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:22/km)

I managed to get out early this evening for this run. Just an easy effort with the pacing job tomorrow in mind.

Week 46 Summary (so far):

RTW: 3 from 5 days

DTW: 26.7 km

DTY: 3,547.7 km

Getting back into the swing of things

Monday, 4th November, 2013 - 8.6km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

I ventured back out on the streets of the Northside for my first regular training run in almost four weeks. Back into training mode again with the new focus on the Lanzarote marathon on December 6th. I booked a holiday to the island before I knew this was on but once I realised well there was no way I could refuse the temptation really! So, 5 weeks til race day and I hope I don’t lose any of the current fitness and aim to step it up a little bit before a 2 week taper.

This being my first run back I decided to take it handy and so it was a gentle, recovery-paced run. I allowed myself the shorter loop of just 6.5km as well and thankfully all vital signs are good. A few slight niggles but I think that’s more from lying around for the past week than anything to do with running!

Tuesday, 5th November, 2013 - 11.9km MP Run (4:46/km)

Again I was intending to do nothing too fast but after my first km registered sub 5:00 I decided to push on as I was feeling good. Ended up settling into slightly less than MP pace, but my effort showed an elevated HR so I was happy enough with the output. Surprised to have hit a faster run so soon but gotta take advantage of these types of opportunities when they arise!

Wednesday, 6th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:24/km)

Just another Recovery paced run this evening. The legs appreciated the relaxed effort and I kept it to the shorter 7.4km loop to ensure I maximised the recovery aspect.

Thursday, 7th November, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:36/km)

Another recovery run as the legs were still a bit non-responsive after Tuesday. More a maintenance run with a long one to come tomorrow.

Friday, 8th November, 2013 - 31.0km LSR (5:41/km)

Seeing as I felt my lack of LSRs let me down a bit in Chicago I want to make sure I do 3 sufficiently long runs before Lanzarote (the plan is for the other two to be approx 35km with some MP thrown in). The MP miles earlier in the week though had left me reeling for longer than expected so I had no intentions of including any faster stuff in this LSR. I decided on an out & back route, with the turnaround to be approx 15-16km into the run.

The first quarter to the Clontarf seafront was relaxed yet when I got to the wind monument things got even easier again as the view over Dublin Bay made things go quicker. By the time I reached the halfway point in Sutton though things were feeling real again and when I turned around the cold breeze was in my face. This woke me up for a while but before long the legs started to sag a little.

By the time I was back at the monument I was really plodding along and for the final 7km it was a real struggle. Thankfully it never got to a case of where I considered walking but I was definitely happy to be finished this run. I could feel my calves being really tight and did a mini-stretch afterwards. However, when in the shower I was having to do a bit of a jig in order to relieve the calf soreness. First time I had this in a long time so I can only presume that its all the after effects of the past month combined with doing the MP run a little too soon.

Saturday, 9th November, 2013 - Rest Day.

My plan was to run the St. Anne’s Parkrun this morning but I was knackered so decided to have a lie-in instead. Even when getting out of bed I could feel the aches and stiffness so I gave up on the idea of running today.

Sunday, 10th November, 2013 - 8.1km Easy Run (5:11/km)

I went out for what had planned to be a 13km run to bring me over the 80km mark but after a while I knew I should really take it easy. I ran two slow kms before pushing on a little bit on the downhill past DCU. This didn’t feel too easy though so when the downhill finished at the Swords Road/Griffith Avenue junction I eased back to a plod to get home. Surprisingly though when I finished the run I noticed the pace wasn’t that bad overall.

Week 45 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 74.4 km

DTY: 3,463.8 km

So, a decent week’s mileage on my return but if I’m honest I think I should have given myself a much easier week instead. Think I will try and be more focused in my running next week and take a couple of recovery days as rest days instead. The Stook 10 miler is on Sunday and I think I will run that at MP pace with a few kms beforehand and afterwards. So, the goal time will be 75mins.

Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC

Wow, it's taking me bloody ages to catch back up to date on this blog! Anyways, here's another 10 days worth...

Friday, 18th October, 2013 – 8.0km SLC Recovery Run (45:57 – 5:36/km)

For most of the following week all thoughts of running were ignored. We did lots of touristy things as well as too much drinking and eating than what was good for us. In amongst all that we caught a Chicago Bulls v Detroit Pistons game at the United Centre, followed by rushing to see Bell X1 play in a local bar later the same night. But by Thursday it was time for myself and Stephen to depart Chi Town for Mormon town, or Salt Lake City as it’s properly called.

A quick visit to their Temple was not very enlightening on their belief system. In fairness the religion does seem to mean that there is little crime and the city feels anything but dangerous. On the flip side though all that clean living leads to a boring old town so we were happy enough to be out of there once Aidan arrived from Ireland.

On Saturday morning we met up with local residents Tim, Brian and Carmen and set off for Moab in the South of the State for some mountain biking. This was great craic but my limited MTB skills meant that some of the trails were simply too demanding and technical for me so I missed out on the lads trip down Porcupine Rim. Fortunately Stephen had a ‘Go Pro’ camera so he managed to catch the experience although I'm sure biking alongside 400m cliff drops was much more terrifying in reality! It did make me pine for my own MTB to be brought out of storage though!

Week 42 Summary:

RTW: 1 from 7 days

DTW: 8.0 km

DTY: 3,264.6 km

Monday, 21st October, 2013 – 15.8km SLC Easy Run (1:21:56 – 5:11/km)

Tuesday, 22nd October, 2013 – 8.0km Philly Recovery Run (45:32 – 5:26/km)

Thursday, 24th October, 2013 – 8.5km Philly Recovery Run (47:02 – 5:28/km)

Saturday, 26th October, 2013 – 7.3km Washington DC – National Mall (39:54 – 5:27/km)

Just a few easy runs to keep me fresh for the MCM/DCM double and again there’s not a lot to report about them. Lots of travel this week and also too much beer and food in the early part of the week so at least I eased back on the beer in the second half! This last run was around the National Mall in DC and things were feeling good!

Sunday, 27th October, 2013 – 43.0km Marine Corps Marathon (3:50:01 – 5:18/km)

Morning:

The alarm clock had me awake by 6am and even at that there was no time for dallying. A small breakfast of some pre-bought food and I was out the door. Fortunately, my hotel was only a 2 min walk from the metro station and then it was only 4 stops to race start. I had read that it was a good idea to purchase a day pass for $14 as the queues would be very busy post race. So, this I did as I would be getting three journeys on the train today so it almost made financial sense too. The journey itself took less than 20mins in total, and so by 7:15am I arrived at the Pentagon stop and casually made my way to the starting line. This was a 1 mile walk and it was pretty easy to skirt along the side of the crowd before reaching the 4hr pacers. While on my way to the start area I was on the lookout for portaloos but the queues were ginormous! However, just before I jumped into my corral area there was a row of toilets with zero people waiting on them - My lucky day! A quick visit and I was back to my starting position within 2 minutes. As we waited for the race to start I did notice the distinct lack of non-Americans. Perhaps the jingoistic nature of the Marine Corps turns foreigners off the event I guess. Personally I didn't really care as long as it wasn’t too ‘in my face’ and so far it wasn't (apart from the Expo with the multitude of stands dedicated to all forms of US Defence Forces, and God!).

Kms 0 - 10km:

Another US Marathon another dodgy PA system! The announcer was doing his best to get the participants going but the system failed to match his enthusiasm so in the end the only real way we knew the race was started was the fact that the slow shuffle forward had begun! There was approximately 6.5mins elapsed on the clock by the time I sauntered under it and we were away.

The first 4 miles on the course are pretty hilly with very little even ground. The good news though was that it all flattens out after that. So, my main aim was to hold a relaxed effort for this section and then get to grips with a 22 mile race when we arrived in Georgetown. This tactic was the only one available to me in reality as there was so much congestion that I wouldn't have been able to go any faster if I wanted! I also seemed to be accompanied by the most selfish runners in the World as many of them veered left and right (with headphones on!) without a care for their fellow runners who often had to brake suddenly to avoid tripping over them. This really got on my nerves so I was happy when pockets of space managed to appear about 30 mins into the race.

Surprisingly, by as early as 5.5km I needed another bathroom break. This was unexpected for me as I usually manage the whole race without a visit but here I was having to use the toilet twice in half an hour! To make matters even worse there were no portaloos around but after holding it in for a couple of kms we passed through a tree-laden section of the course and there was a bunch of other male runners using the natural facilities, and I thought I may as well avail of the opportunity too. So, after a loss of about 40 seconds I was back running the downhill again.

We passed over the bridge and into Georgetown briefly around km 8 and that was the worst of the hills behind us. Now it was just a wee jog to the finish! I decided to maintain the effort so what was a tough enough opening 5km was now transformed into a much improved pace for the next 5km thanks to the flatter profile.

0 – 5km: 30:08 (6:01/km)

5 – 10km: 27:02 (5:23/km)

Kms 10 - 20km:

There was an out and back section between 9km to 15km. This was along a river park type area and fairly pleasant but it got boring after a while. Also, the turnaround point was basically a point in the road so as we had about 10 people wide trying to take the 180 turn we inevitably slowed to a walk. Hardly ideal 12km into a marathon!

Once we were done with this section though we were back out amongst the crowds and were now heading along the North/East bank of the Potomac river. This was a very pleasant and flat part of the course and it was around here that I noticed myself speeding up, hence the 5:16/km for the fourth 5km split. Things were feeling pretty good now.

10 – 15km: 28:38 (5:43/km)

15 – 20km: 26:23 (5:16/km)

Kms 20 - 30km:

I got a little anxious that I was going too fast too soon so I reigned myself in a little bit over the next 5km as we passed through Halfway in 1:57:59 – Well up on my 4hr target and I felt I hadn’t even started running properly yet. Around this point also I passed the 4hr pacers. I didn’t bother to pause with them any longer than I needed to pass through their gaggle of runners and overtake the whole group.

Over the next 5km I got chatting to a guy also wearing the Chicago 2013 top. Turns out he was from Illinois and we chatted about Chi Town and the Marathon briefly. After about a mile he had enough and wanted to ease back to his own pace – I’m sure it had nothing to do with the sparkling conversation! This 5km split was the fastest of the day and my first sub 5min segment. I was still holding myself back for Dublin a fair bit though so I had faith in my quicker than planned pace.

We were now running around the National Mall with all the sites spread around us. It made for a really cool place to run and the time passed by in an instant so before we knew it we were facing into the final 12km stretch!

HM1: 1:57:59 (5:35/km)

20 – 25km: 26:52 (5:22/km)

25 – 30km: 24:54 (4:58/km)

Kms 30 – 42.2km:

The next few kms were somewhat boring as we passed over a very long bridge with a bit of an incline and little support. The bridge lasted the guts of a km and once back across into Virginia we had a loop of Crystal City’s boring streets to complete but at least the crowds were back out supporting in abundance once more.

Things were beginning to get tougher now though. The pace started drifting a bit slower so I was in consolidation mode now. Keep it steady til the final mile and let loose again. As we passed the Pentagon we ran by the 25 mile mark so sure enough I started to up the effort again. I figured I’d be close to 3:50 by now so made this my short term target  With about 600m to go I saw a guy 80m up ahead with an Irish flag on his back so made it my mission to catch him and say hello before we crossed the line. However, as I began to close the gap I suddenly spotted the guy slow to a walk! I couldn't just go straight past him so I gave him a shout that we were almost done - ”Less than 3mins and it'll all be over”. He got back running again as we chatted for 100m before he told me to go on ahead. Which I did! I was now at the bottom of the short incline to the finish, only 400m from the end. I gave it all I had going up the incline but there was several others who had slowed to a crawl and the course had just gone from motorway width to country lane width which led to congestion again! I did my best to dodge around a few people and in no time I was cresting the hill with just the 150m run-in to the line remaining. I kept the hammer down and as I was approaching the line I knew it was gonna be close but alas when I crossed the finish my time registered as 3:50:01! A tiny bit disappointed not to go sub 3:50 but all things considered I was very happy with the run. I negative splitted by 5:57 and managed to come home feeling relatively fine.

HM2: 1:52:02 (5:19/km)

30 – 35km: 26:54 (5:22/km)

35 – 42.2km: 39:10 (5:26/km)

Aftermath/reaction:

After the line I waited for the Irish guy and he crossed about 30 seconds later, well inside a sub 4hr run for him. He was very thankful for the help over the final km. After a short rest with the legs upside down against a fence I moved off for the Metro Station. I was in a little hurry now as I was moving slowly, however nothing can excuse me for forgetting to pick up my free after-race beer!

Once inside the metro station my wise decision to buy the day pass in advance this morning bore fruit as the place was mobbed! As it was it took me about 10mins to get through the turnstiles but if I had to buy a ticket at that time this would have been 30mins easily! Fortunately, my stop was now the next stop on the train and I was back at the hotel in time to shower and late-checkout (as agreed at check-in!) by 1:30pm. Straight back on the train to Ronald Reagan Airport this time. Thankfully this airport is only a stone’s throw away from the finish line of the MCM so I arrived in plenty of time for my 3:30pm connecting flight to Boston and so managed to at last get a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately the choices were limited so I had to settle for a ‘5 Guys’ fast food meal which included a delicious burger but an offensively over seasoned cajun chips which I couldn’t finish!

After a 70 minute flight to Logan International airport (I used to work there as a baggage handler back on my J1 in 1999) I had a layover just long enough to savour a pint of Boston’s finest - Sam Adams – in celebration of my morning’s achievements. There wasn't much time to spare afterwards before I was boarding the Dublin flight however. Once aboard I managed to nab an aisle seat by the wing so I had lots of legroom. This good luck was counter-balanced though by three children under the age of 2 years old within 2 metres of me. Such is the way though that I got no sleep on the flight with their incessant whining and by the time I reached Dublin I was pretty knackered. It was just about the last hour of the flight before they shut up properly but no sleep was forthcoming after that. We landed in Dublin airport at 5am and it was all about to start all over again!

Week 43 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 82.6 km

DTY: 3,347.2 km

St Anne's Parkrun is launched... and it's very flat!

Wednesday, 25th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:46/km)

Yesterday’s run appears to have taken a lot out of me. Not sure if it was the distance (just realised it’s only my 3rd 20 miler and I have not gone any further since Belfast!) or the two progression segments in the middle but I found myself with a tight left hammy and the by-now usual abdomen strain. Thankfully this was just to be a recovery run and boy did I need it. The first few kms were coming in around the 5:50’s when I thought they were around 5:30’s. Glad to get it over in the end and did a bit of foam rolling afterwards. Planned to get to bed early too but that fell by the wayside with TV and a few chores to blame!

Thursday, 26th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:16/km)

Again it was later than planned by the time I got out for this run. Legs felt a fair bit better and after a relaxed first km I upped the effort to around 5:1x/km pace. Probably slightly tougher than it should have been but close to normal.

It was during this run that I had a moment of clarity in relation to my bad runs this year. All of Rotterdam marathon, Portumna marathon, Athlone HM and Dublin HM were in warm conditions. It was probably at least 21-22 degrees for them all so I think the underlying issue is that I perform poorly in warm weather. Certainly the elevated temperatures could well be responsible for an extra 3-5bpm which would be enough to scupper a long distance run. There were probably other mitigating circumstances (like the blisters in Rotterdam and poor nutrition choices for the HMs) but the heat is the one common denominator. Even last year in Valencia in similar temps I faded in the final 10km, albeit I still got my PB there but according to my Athlone ¾ marathon a few weeks before I should have been on for 3:20 or thereabouts. Definitely something to think about for the future!

Friday, 27th September, 2013 – 7.4km Easy Run (5:00/km)

I got up early this morning to fit in an easy run before work. This went well and feel I’m almost back to normal now.

7.4km Recovery Run (5:33/km)

Got back out for another recovery paced run in the evening. Was gonna do a 12km loop but decided to just keep it to 7.4km to prevent and lag in the legs.

Saturday, 28th September, 2013 – 8.1km including 5km St. Anne’s Parkrun (4:10/km)

I ventured down to St. Anne’s Park in Raheny for their first Parkrun. It consisted of a 2 lap course on an extremely flat course with the only thing to slow you down being a couple of tight corners. After a 2km warmup I ran into Mick K. at the starting area and had a bit of a chat. Within a few minutes we were walked to the start and were away.

St Annes Parkrun - two laps, very flat!

I wasn’t exactly clear-minded about how I was going to run this. My thoughts veered between trying for a sub 20 before pushing that out of my mind and deciding to take it at 4:10/min pace instead. Without having my mind firmly made up I spent the first km taking it handy and avoiding racing too many about me. As we got to the playing pitches I started to move up a few places as some people began to fade/ease off already. There were some kids training on the corner of the football pitch where we were due to turn the corner so we had no choice but to cut the apex a little. Before long we were out on the main avenue which runs all the way to the finish on the second lap. Things were going well still and while I am pretty sure I’d have struggled with 4:00/km pace if I had gone for it, the first 2km both came in at 4:10/km and I felt I was putting in a very decent effort without redlining it too much.

As we started the second lap we went through/under a load of trees and so I wasn’t too surprised when the garmin started to suggest my pace was slipping to 4:17 for the 3rd km. I just maintained position as those ahead of me were about 50m down the road at this stage. The next 1,500m were a tad boring for me as it was simply more of the same. The final km began just as we turned back out onto the main avenue for the second time and being able to see the finish in front of you makes for a long kilometre! About 600m to go a local runner called Jim went past me but I was happy to simply maintain pace than try to enter a race with him… perhaps on another day! 

Eventually I reached the finishing chute and stopped the watch in 20:47 which I was neither happy or disappointed with. It just is what it is! Time wasn’t the target today, more a good VO2 session while holding back a little for the 10 miler tomorrow. During today’s run though I made up my mind to run that at marathon pace instead of racing for a 10 mile PB time. Therefore I’ll be aiming to carry a steady 4:40/km (Which I failed at after 8 miles last week!!) all the way to the finish and if the opportunity arises I will allow myself to race the final 2-3 km but not before that. Well, that’s the theory anyways!!

Week 39 Summary (so far):

RTW: 6 from 6 days

DTW: 69.7 km

DTY: 3,103.5 km

Chicago - 15 days (3 weeks, 1 day)

Anyone got a spare ticket...

Oh the Green and Red of Mayo
I can see it still
It's soft and craggy bogland
It's tall majestic hills
Where the ocean kisses Ireland
And the waves carress it's shore
Oh the feeling it came over me
To stay forever more
Forever more

Monday, 16th September, 2013 – Rest Day
Really tired all day so gave into a second successive rest day. :-(

Tuesday, 17th September, 2013 – 11.9km Easy Run (4:58/km)
Almost became a third rest day(!) but just about managed to rescue a run very late in the evening. Fairly miserable out there and I went with the gloves for the first time since Spring.

Wednesday, 18th September, 2013 – 13.1km Yasso Session 8 x 800m (3:12/split)
Decided I’d use the Yasso’s as VO2 training on the run in to the big day. They serve the purpose of speed training but also according to theory, the pace you manage to sustain over 10 x 800m 10 days out from the marathon should approximately equate to the hrs & mins you’ll run the marathon in. So, I was aiming for 3:10 per split in this session which should equate to a 3hr10min marathon.

The evening itself was very blustery, so hardly ideal for this session. I was on my usual stomping ground of the Furze Road for this becaue of it’s flatness. The first two splits were with the wind and came in at 3:15 & 3:14. Not a great start as I was sure things would only get worse. The third split was back into the wind and came in at 3:12 which was a huge surprise! This gave me confidence for the next few which were with the wind again and resulted in 3:07, 3:10 & 3:09. Very happy with these so with just two left I was confident I’d see them all out. Last two were 3:15 & 3:12. So all in all I completed the whole session (Which looked dodgy after the first split!) and averaged out at 3:12. A little outside what I was aiming at from the beginning but if I managed a 3:12 marathon in Chicago I’d be more than happy! The last couple of splits I lost focus for parts of them and that was the reason for the slightly slower times. I’m sure if I was accompanied doing these I’d have maintained pace on them but c’est la vie! A great speed session overall.

Thursday, 19th September, 2013 – 6.4km Recovery Run (5:34/km)
I sneaked in a short recovery run in this morning as I wanted to loosen out the legs in advance of a MLR this evening with Philip. Seriously miserable weather but the nice stuff is on it’s way!

Thursday, 19th September, 2013 – 17.1km Easy MLR Run (5:08/km)
Met Philip in Celbridge for this one. He let me choose the pace but once we got into our stride we ended up going about 15 secs per km faster than planned. It still worked out though and we were able to hold a chat the whole way, so nothing too strenuous. We ran along the Royal canal until 45mins before turning around. We got back in 42mins thanks to the aid of the wind!

One thing of note from the run is that my hip flexors appear to be quite sore and stiff for the first couple of kms so this damn injury seems to be floating around theplace the past few weeks. May need to get a check up by a physio soon…

Friday, 20th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:36/km)
Very relaxed 6.5km in advance of pacing 1:40 in the Dublin HM tomorrow morning.

So, now that I'm up to date, how about that spare ticket??

Week 38 Summary (so far):
RTW: 5 from 5 days
DTW: 55.9 km
DTY: 3,017.7 km
Chicago - 23 days (3 weeks, 2 days)

Athlone Half Marathon - the wheels come off!

Thursday, 12th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (MP ave: 5:33//km)

As promised nice and easy recovery run in advance of Saturday. Legs were a little stiff/tired after last night's faster stuff but nothing serious.

Friday, 13th September, 2013 – Rest Day

Had intended to do about 10km today but after chatting to Philip about the race I decided to take today as a rest day instead in order to give myself every chance in Athlone.

Saturday, 14th September, 2013 – 21.3km Recovery Run (MP ave: 4:25//km)

The plan for today was to stay with the 1:30 pacers and try and nip just below the 90 min mark. This would mean running at 4:16/km pace according to the caluclators but when you factor in the inevitable couple of hundred extra metres then the pace would need to be approx 4:13/km. I was thinking about this briefly before I set off from Dublin and a quick moment of realisation pointed out that this was faster than my training LT pace. Suddenly things became a bit too real so I decided to push that thought out of my head and just hang with the pacers as long as I could and hope for the best really. At the very least I expected to get a new PB (1:32:49), so anything better than that but not sub 90mins wasn't hugely appealing. It was an all or bust mentality and i guess that's what I got!

I arrived in plenty of time to register, meet lots of familiar faces and go for a 3.5km warm-up. This was the longest warm up I've ever done but at the same time it was nice and handy and I felt great after it. After a little more socialising i made my way to the start line and fell in with a few more familiar faces (Joe, Kate and a couple of others) in the 1:30 pace group. Before long we were off. A few twists in the first 400m and then we were out on the straight. Even by this stage Joe had moved just in front of the pacers which was a clever idea as there was a large group on a narrow road and so it was no surprise really when I heard somebody appear to take a tumble about 2km into the race. By this stage I was in the thick of the bunch and it felt a bit claustrophobic. Around here I ran into Sean who commented '1:30 will be no bother'. I muttered back something about the first km always feeling easy and they were the last words I spoke all race. I managed to keep with the pace group for the first 8km but I had been keeping track of my HR and was a bit spooked that it was in the 160's the whole time when it should be in the mid 150's. I didn't think about it too much though as I was now struggling to keep with the group and I knew if I fell off the back of it that my race was done.

The run-in to the finish

I usually like it when I'm proved correct but in this instance it was not very enjoyable! A gap of 100m opened up over the next few kms and I found myself running solo just when I needed shielding from the breeze. As the gap drifted wider I began to unintentionally ease back to an effort that I should have started off with and the pace and HR slowed a little. By the time we appeared out onto the Ballinasloe Road I was over cooked and it was now just a matter of making my way home. The HR was still in the mid 150's but the pace had slowed back to marathon pace. There was nothing to be done really as I was now paying for redlining over the opening section. I'm sure the body was struggling big time with lactic acid and I just wasn't able to get the desired output from the high effort input. I tried consoling myself with the fact that I was getting a MP session out of it anyways so it wasn't a total waste of time. As I was slowing people were passing me and that compounded my misery. On the main road though I managed to get going again at a faster pace through a combination of sharing the pacing with another guy and the better road surface. Unfortunately, as soon as we turned off the main road again my pacing partner fell away and I slowed back down again due in some part to the poorer surface. Eventually I set my focus on the last mile and as I turned the corner for the 200m run-in to the line I gave it my all but still only just managed to get a pace of 4:06/km. I had nothing left but was glad to be finished.

HR & pace data

In fairness to the organisers the event really is excellent value and a great run. I think I may have fallen into a trap though (like quite a few others I spoke to) in thinking that because the course had no hills that it was ok to go off that bit faster. A handful of people that I spoke to afterwards seemed to have a similar tale of falling away after 8km or thereabouts. It has certainly re-instilled in me the value of starting steady and settling into a race as opposed to going out gung-ho. Hopefully I just remember that lesson in Chicago! 

Speaking of Chicago, I had been debating whether to aim for either 3:10 or 3:15 over there and was going to let Athlone's result decide the matter. Unfortunately that target is now going to be sub 3:20 instead! I will keep training at approx 3:12 pace but in reality I just need to bite off less than I'd been targeting.  It's annoying really that I've been running an average of 50 miles per week this year (a decent increase on last year) and yet the marathon form has failed to improve much at all since.

Athlone Half Marathon - 1:34:16

Sunday, 15th September, 2013 – Rest Day

I continued on to Mayo after the race and it was late enough getting back to Dublin so treated myself to a Rest Day.

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 57.1 km

DTY: 2,961.8 km

Chicago - 28 days (4 weeks, 0 days)

Grant Thornton 5k

It was himself that brought up the word 'sack'!

Monday, 9th September, 2013 – 7.4km Recovery Run (5:30/km)

Another very easy recovery run yesterday evening after the LSR yesterday. Actually surprised how slow the first couple of kms were, but around midway I threw in 11 sets of strides to get the legs prepared for the Grant Thornton 5km race this evening in the city centre. Would like a time beginning with a ‘1’ but given the lack of any VO2 training that may have to wait another while.

Tuesday, 10th September, 2013 – 7.5km Including Grant Thornton 5k race (3:58/km)

As suspected, the 1x:xx wasn’t in the legs this evening but seeing as the GPS measured 5.12km for the race can’t help but feel I was sub 20 for 5km (going by the Garmin I passed through 5km in 19:55 but can't really lay claim to that for PB purposes!). In the end I was 20:19 and the effort was nice and consistent the whole way around so all in all very happy with the way I ran just not so much with the time I ran! The time wasn’t hugely important though as it was more a chance of a very fast training run more than anything else. The race was very well organised but given the numbers and the high speeds it would be better to avoid the Talbot Bridge so early in the run. Far better off starting at the other side of the bridge and allowing a straight 2km of road before any turns.

Steady HR.

Managed to nab an extra 2.5km between warm-up and cool down to bring the total up to 7.5km. Would have liked to have done more but was in a rush home to watch Trap activate his self-execution. Arrivederci Giovanni Manuela! Best of luck to Thomas’ Osterreich for the remainder of qualifying! (Hope that eases the pain for the Kerry comments!)

Wednesday, 11th September, 2013 – 10.0km Run with 8km @ MP (MP ave: 4:31//km)

I got caught in a bit of no-man’s land this evening where I wanted to avoid anything too taxing in advance of the HM on Saturday. In the end I decided on hitting the seafront in Clontarf for a few MP miles. An easy first kilometre was followed by 8km at an average of 4:31/km. Starting my final MP km it was becoming evident that my right heel was cut from the shoe/sock combination. This helped me decide to slow down before pushing things too far and was a blessing in disguise really. I jogged the final kilometre, at first with the intention of adding another 5km or thereabouts but as I got closer to the car sensibility won the day and I limited any heal damage before it got too bad. A nice little session squeezed in also, which should be of benefit. The run itself was reasonably tough though given it was following on from the 5km race last night.

Easy running now ‘til Saturday!

Week 37 Summary:

RTW: 3 from 3 days

DTW: 24.9 km

DTY: 2,929.6 km

Chicago - 32 days (4 weeks, 4 days)